The King of Comedy

Not to mention of course the most tragic of central characters, someone who desperately wants to be funny, believes himself to be funny but isn't. (cf The Office)

I think the last quarter-century of American culture is proof that Pupkin really became a star.

Scorsese's best film.

defo the best scorsese i've seen in terms of actual make you think content...

Bernhard is absolute perfection

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1onK46_r0ss

tot freaked out Jerry Lewis, apparently

I was thinking...

why don't we go upstairs?

But that's so predictable.

Let's just take
everything off the table...

and do it right here.

That would blow your mind.

It would blow my mind.

I've never done
anything like that.

I never even had anybody
over for dinner.

Marty, Bob & Jerry after closing-night screening at Tribeca:

Developing the character of Pupkin, De Niro said he dragged Scorsese to the homes of various photographers and autograph collectors, and that they also hit the local comedy clubs, guided by their friend, the comedian Richard Belzer. As for Rupert’s look — the leisure suits and skeezy moustache — DeNiro said, “We went to that store on Broadway, Lew Magram.”

“‘Shirtmaker to the Stars,’” remembered Scorsese.

“It was near the Stage Deli,” continued De Niro. “I remember you, me and Richard Bruno, the costume designer. We looked in [the window] and saw this mannequin with the whole [look] and said, ‘Let’s just do that.’”

“It was amazing,” said Scorsese. “The red tie, the shoes, everything. It even had the mustache. ‘That’s him. Let’s do it.’”

http://filmmakermagazine.com/69894-scorsese-de-niro-lewis-and-bernhard-recall-king-of-comedy/

http://www.vulture.com/2013/04/watch-sandra-bernhard-and-jerry-lewis-spar.html

Nice. One of my two or three favorite movies ever. Thanks for posting those, Morbs. Also ad-libbed was Jer's speech to Masha and Rupert ("the pressure, the ratings" etc.)

need to watch this again soon. gets scarier the more times you see it.

Thelma Schoonmaker says it's coming to bluray later this year.

The Dissolve ponders it, talks to Sandra

http://thedissolve.com/features/movie-of-the-week/387-the-king-of-comedy-forum-is-rupert-pupkin-funny-an/

http://thedissolve.com/features/movie-of-the-week/386-the-king-of-comedy-depicts-america-as-chock-full-o/

http://thedissolve.com/features/movie-of-the-week/389-sandra-bernhard-remembers-the-king-of-comedy/

saw this the other day for the first time, loved the visit to the house that you (the kaelist "you") think is a fantasy. thought the repeat of the taxi driver ending was better this time. bernhard all-time obv.

the way there's absolutely nothing in the deniro-bernhard "relationship" except their mutual obsession, mutual fantasy, just enough to make them partners, and then when they have captured their obsession's object their fantasies diverge and even that connection is immediately gone, was p harsh

also the last scene of Wolf of Wall Street reflects the last scene here, except we can't interpret Belfort's new hustle as a fantasy

the way there's absolutely nothing in the deniro-bernhard "relationship" except their mutual obsession, mutual fantasy, just enough to make them partners, and then when they have captured their obsession's object their fantasies diverge and even that connection is immediately gone, was p harsh

otm

^ How I feel when leaving a cinema

Hoberman, on the Blu-ray release:

As a tale of showbiz overreaching, “The King of Comedy” has antecedents as varied as “All About Eve,” “A Face in the Crowd” and “Network.” More radical is the movie’s sense of mass culture as an all-encompassing system — the subject of the purposefully garish proto-Pop Art comedies directed by Frank Tashlin in the 1950s, some of which, not coincidentally, starred Jerry Lewis. Pupkin, whose iridescent polyester sport coats and pencil-line mustache were inspired by a mannequin in a Times Square men’s store, is a cartoon comedian. He is also one of Mr. De Niro’s greatest creations.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/20/movies/homevideo/the-king-of-comedy-and-ms-45-explore-pathologies.html

Nick Pinkerton in the Reverse Shot symposium on Scorsese:

It’s hard to say whether Pupkin doesn’t know a “No” when he hears one, or whether he chooses not to heed them, but he’s speeding past all of the usual avenues of professional dues paying and social niceties in pursuit of his ultimate goal. The squirmy comedy of The King of Comedy is based in mutual miscomprehension: Pupkin doesn’t seem to understand that he’s politely being told to go away, while the people whom he badgers, waylays, and wheedlingly harangues don’t know until it’s too late that they are dealing with a crazy person. Pupkin’s good-byes are endless, Columbo-like affairs. He refuses to relinquish the attention of any person of importance that he meets until he receives the answer that he wants from them—or at least something that he can interpret to mean what he wants it to mean. They’re usually dying to escape him, and sometimes you are, too, but he keeps his foot firmly lodged in the door.

http://reverseshot.com/symposiums/entry/1874/king_of_comedy

“There Are So Many Ruperts Around Us”

Was that ending exactly what Paul Zimmerman scripted? Has its meaning changed for you since you shot it?

No, not really, except that he becomes successful without being good. He’s good enough. That’s the most unsettling part, that he’s good enough. I didn’t really go further than what Paul Zimmerman had put on the page. And by the way: the monologue that [De Niro] delivers is word-for-word from the script. Paul knew it; he was on another level. I was just making movies.

http://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2016/06/martin-scorsese-king-of-comedy

If you notice, the mustache is slightly shorter on one side. That came from the mannequin.

masterpiece

I can't stop thinking about this movie.

STARTING A BAND CALLED *SMASHING PUPKINS* pic.twitter.com/noz9H2lRdW

— JOE MACLEOD (@JOEMACLEOD666) March 23, 2018

Jerry wanted Sandra to do a pratfall into the glass table full of candles

he rrrreally hated her

Man, there’s not a single false step in this movie, so good

Scorsese and DeNiro's best

schmuck for a lifetime

Better than Taxi Driver or Raging Bull? Hardly. xp

Yes it is

Way better than both. Only Goodfellas is close.

King of Comedy > Taxi Driver > After Hours >>>>>>>>>>>> Goodfellas >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Raging Bull

^^^ I agree with that

Except maybe, King Of Comedy = Taxi Driver

yeah i'm into that

KoC is brilliant but still getting points for being an outlier tonally...Taxi Driver is his best. Silence belongs in that handful best-of imo.

with Eric and Flappy Bird for the most part, KoC is def leagues ahead of Raging Bull

altho I would kinda rank Goodfellas/Taxi Driver/KoC all together tbh

rewatched After Hours a little while ago, now *there's* an outlier in his ouevre imo, such a great little weird movie

yeah totally, one of the better "stuck in a dream/nightmare" movies I've seen.

also Hadrian I'm with you on Silence, that one blew me away. masterpiece in spite of Andrew Garfield

I liked Silence way more than I expected to, need to rewatch. I found it a bit inscrutable (not a bad thing)

Adam Driver is so good in it, it's a drag he disappears after an hour or so. it's a great example of his abilities next to Garfield - Driver can change his face, the way he looks, without severe prosthetics or makeup. Andrew Garfield always looks and sounds like... Andrew Garfield.

one of Ebert's weirdest & most conservative opinions was that Scorsese made the best film of the decade in the 70s, 80s, and 90s with Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, and Goodfellas. Give me a break... I prefer The Departed to Goodfellas.

Give me a break... I prefer The Departed to Goodfellas

this is a bad opinion

haha yeah the Departed, while still entertaining, is bloated and silly and often outright stupid and also features sweaty bigface, who is just unbearable to watch.

I always thought Goodfellas was inexplicably overrated. it's good, it's entertaining, but Ray Liotta bugs me, and I just don't understand the ott love for it. The Departed is solidly second tier, more entertaining, darker & more fucked up, and engrossing in a way that Goodfellas isn't for me. Goodfellas always struck me as kinda corny.

been waiting for a night when I have the time to watch CASINO. what does everyone think of that one

The Departed is a blast but Goodfellas is better in every conceivable way but I’m not going to argue that further. KOC is great obv, upper third of Scorsese flicks

I've warmed to Casino over the years, initially I found Sharon Stone's whole role really misogynistic and grating but really everybody in the movie is a fucking horrible monster so

King of Comedy is great, but count me among the boring Taxi Driver/Raging Bull/Goodfellas/Mean Streets contingent. It'd be interesting to put that to the test with a Scorsese poll--a ranked poll, not a click-poll--but I suppose there's been so much Scorsese commentary on here over the years, there'd be no point. From the last few days' worth of comments, my guess is it would still be Taxi Driver and Goodfellas at the top, King of Comedy a close third, Raging Bull and Mean Streets (which nobody even seems to mention anymore) well behind, probably with other films ahead of them.

I saw Mean Streets for the first time last year and was disappointed, felt like a rough sketch at best and juvenilia at worst.

Ouch.

DD Disappointed Tom D

DeNiro became so skilled at playing tightly wound, simmering types that Mean Streets is kind of an outlier in what a live wire character he portrays. I still love that back room conversation between him and Keitel, and the pool hall fight scene (which is actually stolen by the supporting characters imo.) It's better on subsequent viewings, I saw it when I was younger and it felt half-formed, but later viewings revealed a lot.

Romanus and Proval are outstanding, too; Proval in particular. As far as I know he didn't do much of note between Mean Streets and his role as Richie Aprile in The Sopranos. He was so good in the latter, casting people must have been sleeping on him.

Casino btw is pretty astonishing, it received unfair flak for being a Goodfellas ripoff but it's such a different vibe. The characters are more desiccated and empty, Goodfellas felt at times like a classic '30s/'40s comedy mixed in with a vicious gangster film, w/unrepentant yet likable characters, Casino is an ugly, horrifying tragedy. Assuming it was brought up because it hasn't been seen, all I'll say is that there's a scene near the end which is probably one of the most terrifying, nightmarish things I've seen in cinema.

omar otm re: Casino. Some days I prefer it to Goodfellas -- it feels like Scorsese is fully aware he's doing another Goodfellas, but he's trying to see just how far he can take that kind of story, in every way.

And as great as the music cues were in Goodfellas, stretches of wall-to-wall music in Casino are masterful, as are little things like the "Toad" solo fading in and out, and only using "Go Your Own Way" for a few seconds.

Casino suffers from too many narrators syndrome.

I don't usually love Ray Liotta, but I think he's great in Goodfellas precisely because he's not afraid to put his character's flaws front and center. He doesn't play it too cool, he's not an anti-hero, he's a shithead who managed to be a big shot for a little while.

King of Comedy is great, but count me among the boring Taxi Driver/Raging Bull/Goodfellas/Mean Streets contingent.

I had little doubt on this point.

I would never argue that TKoC is "clearly superior" to Raging Bull and Goodfellas. It is if you're wired like me.

If you think of Mean Streets as little more than a rough sketch, stay clear of Who's That Knocking at My Door--which has at least one scene, the one with "El Watusi," I consider as great as almost anything Scorsese went on to do.

Taxi Driver and King of Comedy are kind of a double A side

And now I want to see Mean Streets, but I only have ten minutes before I go to work

Lewis told GQ, “Originally my name in the script was Robert Langford, I said, ‘Marty! We’re going to be shooting in New York. Do yourself a favor and call him Jerry Langford.’ He said, ‘Why?’ “Because everywhere we go in New York, your construction workers and cab drivers will validate that it’s Jerry.”

https://cinephiliabeyond.org/the-king-of-comedy/

Screened Ingrid Goes West last night...strong KoC vibes in that one.

saw this for the first time last night. it’s an astonishing film, almost can’t believe scorsese made it. de niro has played sociopaths well before but he’s just so perfect here, class acting all around actually. and having seen UNCUT GEMS first, it almost anticipates that film — I was expecting rupert to get shot between the eyes as soon as his bit finished airing in the bar.

Phoned a longtime friend today and--long story--had to make sure it was actually him I was talking to.

"What do we call our second cameraman?"

It was him.

Laraine Newman says she auditioned for the Sandra Bernhard role. Had to sit on De Niro's lap and coo at him. It didn't work out.

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLS_gQd8UB-hJtGDAPKjbY2CM-nGgVtBZw

Oops

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z37uV6nIgmQ

I guess the greatness of The King of Comedy is supposed to be that it is brilliant because it's entirely cringy and off-putting. All I can say is ugh. It is my least favorite Scorsese film

Next thing you will be telling us is that you don’t like Andy Kaufman.

Andy Kaufman was great

:)

Agreed that this is Scorsese's best. It's certainly the one that's most stuck with me in the years since I saw it.

"You should only get cancer, I hope you get cancer!"

I think it's a great film too, one of Scorsese's best. IIRC John Huston was really put off initially but came around to it when he realized it was confronting a lot of uncomfortable truths that public Hollywood figures like himself usually try to ignore - that a lot of aspiring filmmakers, actors, etc. who want to make it in Hollywood are attracted to fame just like a zealous fan. And as good as All About Eve may be, King of Comedy comes closer to how ugly, deranged and pathetic that attraction can be.

^good post

All I can say is ugh. It is my least favorite Scorsese film

You daffy bastard.

I didn’t know he was Welsh.

That would be Taffy. 0:53.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjAfhTsxVyo

Yeah, I know